Geography of Cyprus

I am certainly no Geography major, but I like to think I know my way around the globe and can easily identify certain countries.  When I first learned about the archaeology dig in Cyprus, I though to myself... Cyprus, I think that is an island off of mainland Greece, similar to how Sicily is off of mainland Italy.  I surprised myself to learn that Cyprus is quite a distance away from Greece, we're talking about a good 800km from it.  Being able to see it on a map, did put the country's historical background into perspective.

The Republic of Cyprus was divided in half in 1974 by the invasion of Turkey, and it's self proclaimed "Turkish Republic of North Cyprus."  Even though the area is governed by the Republic of Cyprus, only Turkey recognizing the difference.  This conflict is still in dispute today, and Cyprus is divided by a "green zone."

The history of Cyprus can be dated back 12,000ya, there is proof of domestication of cats approximately 9,500ya.

The area I will be in is a port city called Larnaca, it is located on the South-East end of the island, it is flanked on the Eastern end by the village of Pyla and a British Army base.  This area is where the field work will be conducted.

Travel agents

I'm not sure how travel agents work in the whole scheme of things.  One the one hand, I would prefer to book all of my flights and travel arrangements on my own, this way I control everything and can dictate the who/what/where/when factors.  On the other hand, booking my flights for Cyprus through a travel agent turned out extremely worth it, and here's why.

When I first started looking at tickets, I chose a few different combination of departure airports.  I knew the only variable that would be a constant would be arriving in Larnaca via Cyprus Airways.  The first place I looked was Expedia, now I wasn't planning on booking anything through them, I really just use Expedia as a guideline so I can get a better idea of flight patterns and times.

Everything I looked up had me flying from Minneapolis into Atlanta or JFK, and most were landing in Rome or Amsterdam.  I saw one that was from MSP to LAX to LHR and thought there is no way that one is gonna happen.

What did amaze me about the travel agent and her magic, was how I was able to get a flight from Grand Forks, ND, USA to London, then I switch planes and head right to Larnaca, Cyprus.  That's 2 whole stops!  In addition, I have really short layovers, it's something like 2:30hrs in MSP and 1:30hrs in LHR, which I guess could turn around and bite me in the ass if for some reason I leave late from MSP.

My flights back are very similar, too, I only need to make 2 stops, but I do have a 4.5hr lay over in London on the way back.  I am almost wondering if I could throw my junk in a locker and go see some sites for an hour or two.  The downside is, I run the risk of missing my flight back into the states, which would really be a bad idea.

Who knows, we'll see.  It's on Delta, I'm pretty high up on the Medallion SkyMiles program, maybe I can get them to put me on a different flight the following day.  I'd still throw my stuff in a locker and just take the necessities.  Passport, toothbrush, clean clothes, camera, wallet.